Muscat: Bahwan IT has signed a Value Added Reseller agreement with Finnish firm Granlund to enhance energy efficiency and management in Oman buildings. Under the agreement, Bahwan IT, a part of the Suhail Bahwan Group, will market Granlund’s proprietary software Granlund Manager in Oman.

The Computerised Maintenance Management Software helps save cost and energy in buildings and allows control over building asset data and other related activities. Aimed primarily at old buildings that lack functional Building Management Systems, the software collects data from various hardware devices, such as sensors, which must be installed separately by owners to improve energy efficiency in buildings.

“Energy efficiency in buildings has a number of steps and the first is maintenance. You need to know when to undertake maintenance and how well it has been done. This saves huge costs. Our software makes sure that technicians can do their job better and at the right time, not too early or too late,” Jan Pawli, Vice-President of Granlund International, said. “Further, ventilation and lighting control are major energy consumers. Using the software, these can be monitored and efficiently managed. After all, it is people, equipment and energy that make up 80 per cent of the operational costs of a building,” Pawli added.

Pawli further said that unlike other energy management systems wherein the cost does not allow them to be used on a small scale, Granlund Manager can be used in smaller buildings with less time for return on investments. The agreement was signed by Pekka Metsi, CEO and President, Granlund, Finland; and Amal Suhail Bahwan, Vice Chairperson, Suhail Bahwan Group, at a ceremony held in Muscat. “We are glad to be partnering with Granlund, whose core expertise is energy efficiency in building environment. Globally, the building sector consumes more electricity than any other sector. As such, investing in energy management and efficiency solutions is very important. We strongly believe the software provided by Granlund offers practical solutions to optimise and reduce energy consumption, and thus saves costs significantly,” Bahwan said. Granlund International was established in 1960 and currently has over 1,000 customer organisations in 30 countries, 750 employees, 20 offices in Finland and offices in China and the United Arab Emirates. It specialises in design, consultancy and software services, with core expertise in energy efficiency.